Good morning,
Romans 3 tells God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. The problem is all have sinned and need redemption. The solution is Jesus Christ’s blood sacrifice to pay man’s sin debt.
First though, God speaks to the Jews through the Apostle Paul. The Jew had an advantage because they were given “…the oracles of God.” They had the opportunity to know God’s plan, promise, and covenants. They also were aware of the blessings and curses for obedience and disobedience. They really believed that because they were Jews they were above the judgment of God. They were wrong.
Romans 3:1-8
God’s special blessing to the Jews (1-8)
Three questions
What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) 6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? 7 For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? 8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
“Romans 3:1–8 contains a series of questions which might have come from someone opposed to Paul’s teaching in Romans 2. Using this challenge-response structure, Paul clarifies that being Jewish and circumcised still comes with great advantages. He also points out that God remains faithful to the Jewish people in spite of their sin. In fact, His faithfulness in the face of unfaithfulness increases His glory. That does not mean, however, that God wants human beings to continue to sin, as some were accusing Paul of teaching.” (BibleRef.com)
It is one thing to know the Word of God and quite another to act upon what you know. As Israel failed to act on what God had revealed to them, Christians, in good Bible believing church’s, are ignoring the clear revealed will of God. Unbelievers see no difference in the believers’ lives than in their own. So, they ask “Why do we need to become Christians?”
Obeying God’s word is critical to the furtherance of the gospel outreach and salvation of lost souls.
OBEY and be part of God’s solution.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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